SEWOL TRAGEDY DEATH TOLL CLIMBS TO 244

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-Hye om Sunday met relatives of passengers still missing after the sinking of a ferry last month, vowing that any culprit would be “sternly punished” as the confirmed death toll rose to 244. Eight more bodies were recovered on Sunday, 18 days after the 6,825-ton Sewol capsized and sank with 476 people on board — most of them schoolchildren — while 58 remain unaccounted for. “Anyone responsible for the accident and criminally at fault will be sternly punished,” Park said during a meeting with relatives camped on Jindo, the nearest island to the wreck where search operations are centered.